Journal staff report
After 15 years of writing stories, taking photos and meeting deadlines week after week, Journal of the San Juans editor Scott Rasmussen is leaving the newspaper business.
“Our readers have come to rely on Scott for his comprehensive, ethical coverage of county news,” said Group Publisher Colleen Smith Armstrong. “His love of community journalism has been a hallmark of his career with our island newspapers. His passion will be greatly missed.”
Rasmussen began his time at the Journal in December 1999 as a general assignment reporter shortly after new editor Richard Walker arrived. The two became collaborators for more than a decade. Walker left the Journal to take over the editorial reins at the North Kitsap Herald, a Sound Publishing sister paper, in 2011. On the heels of Walker’s departure, Rasmussen took over as editor of the Journal.
Rasmussen also worked as a reporter for the late Ted Grossman, former editor of the Islands’ Sounder. The two developed a strong friendship during their professional days and remained friends after Grossman’s retirement from the Sounder and up until his death in spring 2014.
Born and raised in Portland, Ore., Rasmussen arrived in the San Juan Islands with a life-long-love of newspapers and young family in tow. He worked in Portland as a freelance journalist, as well as a bartender, prior to joining the Journal.
The island became the adopted home of his two daughters, Kasey and Kori, ages two and three at the time they came to the island. They graduated from Friday Harbor High School in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Over the years, Rasmussen covered everything from killer whales to crime and the courts, from education to theater productions and to sporting events, as well as fires, ferries, budget cuts, road projects, agricultural endeavors, automobile and airplane crashes.
He was also known for authoring one of the papers’ most popular features: the Sheriff’s Log.
Camera in hand, he was a familiar face on the sidelines of high school football and basketball games, and spent countless hours prowling the foul lines or dugout of baseball and softball games, as well as soccer, tennis and wrestling matches. An avid sports enthusiast, covering sporting events, like the yearly Island Cup, was a labor of love for Rasmussen.
Over the course of his 15-year career at the Journal, Rasmussen received 35 individual or team awards in the Better Newspaper Contest, an annual competition sponsored by Washington Newspapers Publishers Association. Rasmussen earned his first award in his first year at the Journal: third place in the comprehensive coverage category for a series about domestic violence.
Rasmussen is leaving the journalism field and transitioning into a different line of work.
He is staying on San Juan Island, however, and chances are good that you’ll see him around.
